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THE CHURCH

The Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity, Tattershall, holds the distinctive position of being a national treasure, which will hopefully dominate the surrounding Fenlands for many centuries to come. It stands impressive and proud, next to Tattershall Castle, and was designed to supplement its founder's aspirations to develop a chantry college.

 

 

However, in this, the Lord High Treasurer of the Realm, Ralph, 3rd Baron Cromwell, did not see his aspirations come to fruition. Having been granted the necessary charter in 1439 by King Henry VI to demolish the old Norman building of St. Peter & St. Paul, and replace it with the present structure, and establish a college as well, he died in 1455 long before the great church was completed.

Thankfully, other visionaries, namely William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, completed the ambitious project. Feasting our eyes on it today, we see, in the cruciform church, one of the finest examples of Perpendicular styling in the country.

Inside the church you cannot fail to be impressed by the voluminous space, and the light, which floods in prodigiously through the impressive acreage of windows. The Ancaster stone looks as fresh as the day it was fashioned into place.

Whilst Tattershall Castle is a splendid structure, it is only a relic of the past. Holy Trinity Church, Tattershall, on the other hand, continues to serve the purposes for which it was first designed. In the words of one of the former Rectors, "It is still - as it always has been and ever will be - the Appointed Meeting Place between God and Man for this Parish of Tattershall and Thorpe". It is the place from where God's word is preached and where the community’s Rites of Passage - Birth, Marriage and Death - are still celebrated

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